10 Reasons Batman Animated Is The Definitive Dark Knight
3. It Gave Birth To The DCAU
As stated before, BTAS actually kick-started the birth and subsequent growth of DC's animated characters on screen. After The first three seasons of BTAS came a design change with The New Batman Adventures, which also saw Superman: The Animated Series make its way to televisions everywhere.. In the years following came shows like Justice League, Batman Beyond and Static Shock - all just as good as the show that started it all. It's also fair to argue that without BTAS's acclaimed stint on TV, DC's famed 'Animated Original Movies' would never have been given the green light. In many ways these shows are indebted to the creativity that the animated series' exuded, as the teams behind it found themselves breathing life into other animated masterpieces since its cancellation. Throughout the universe's tenure the characterisation of Batman remained the same - uncompromising, brutal, yet with a certain warmness that has been lost in the comics in recent years. Managing to capture and convey these themes equally all contributes to the sense that the pointy-eared vigilante's time as an animated force was his most faithful characterisation yet.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
